FRED REVINGTON,
Sir, - It is with great sadness that I write this letter regarding the dean of Clonmacnoise and rector of Trim and Athboy. But as a parishioner of the above union, I must place on record the fact that the views expressed recently by Andrew Furlong have caused more hurt to his parishioners than he will ever know.
Had he used his time given to him by the Bishop - three months on which to reflect on the implications of his articles - I would still have had sympathy for him in the difficult position he now finds himself in.
Unfortunately, he has chosen to use this valuable time to expound his disbelief at every possible opportunity by every medium available to him while still using the title "Dean of Clonmacnoise and rector of Trim and Athboy".
This man can dispense with both the Eucharist and the Mass and in the same breath relegate Jesus Christ and John the Baptist to their place in history and suggest that it was time to move on. He should now do the honourable thing, rather than continue to draw a salary from a church whose core values he has so grievously offended.
He should take his own advice, relegate himself to a place in history, and indeed "move on". - Yours, etc.,
FRED REVINGTON,
Crowenstown,
Delvin,
Co Westmeath.
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - The questions that have blown up in the Church of Ireland concerning the doctrine of the Incarnation cannot be resolved by excommunicatory measures, but only by thorough and open theological debate.
The doctrine in question is based on John I.14: "The Word became flesh". This is a contemplative utterance, and concerns an event: the speaking of God's word into the fleshly realm of human history in and across the life, death and ongoing life of Jesus (not as an isolated figure, but in his interconnection with the Jewish people and the new community he gathered).
Classical dogma formulates this rigidly as the conjunction of two natures, the human and the divine, in a single person. But theologians have done a lot of work on retrieving the biblical vision of Christ, which is the sole basis of the doctrine. This allows more subtle and flexible ways of formulating what must always be a deeply mysterious reality.
As a human being Jesus shared the conceptions of his time and place and it is not surprising that these are no longer ours. But the New Testament authors themselves suggest that the limitations of "Christ according to the flesh" are no obstacle to embracing the risen Christ as a "life-giving spirit".
Before taking disciplinary action against modern doubters, let us recall that at many periods in the Church's history the statements of St Paul and St John about Christ, if it were not for their biblical status, would have stood a very good chance of being condemned as heretical.
People tend to get very excited by Christological controversy. Such excitement can only be poisonous in the religious and political climate of this island. Instead let us have some mature and tolerant discussion, and above all some study of the complex history of the subject. - Yours, etc.,
Rev JOSEPH S. O'LEARY, DD,
Sophia University,
Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo,
Japan.